CFP: Anthropology & Aging special issue on “aging in place and on the move”

Demographers report that older people are more mobile today than they have ever been. Retirement migration is no longer the luxury of the wealthy elite, and is often undertaken as an economic strategy for those unable to afford aging at home. Aging can activate north to south migration for those in search of warmer climes and cheaper healthcare, as well as south to north migration for those who care for and are cared for by younger generations. As people around the world continue to age and live even longer, it will be critical to consider how age, generation and the life course shape the meanings of migration, making homes, and moving and being still.

Just as mobility in later life is becoming more commonplace, staying put is also undergoing a revival of sorts. With a growing and more diverse aging population, the rigid structures of formal and institutional care are providing opportunities to think about what it means to ‘age-in-place’ or to continue occupying a home and a community. What happens then to the family in eldercare as family member share responsibilities with community-based care services, such as a visiting care workers, nurses, and hospice staff? How do these regimes of translocal care create forms of mobility/stagnation around families and older persons? How does this contend with a care staff which is becoming more mobile, surgical, and always on the go?

This special Anthropology & Aging issue will examine immobilities and mobilities, homecoming and making new homes, and aging-in-place and on the move.

Possible topics include

• aging-in-place – policies, practices, undiscovered research
• Meanings of community and translocality
• Neighborhoods and the role of older persons in community and relational governance
• “Snowbirds” and other migrant elderscapes (e.g. retirement schemes)
• The topology and dynamics of intergenerational relationships
• Home visits, care delivery, technologies in and of the home
• Displacement of older adults, refugees, migrant families
• Return migration in old age (narratives and practices of homecoming)
• Roles of older adults in easing immigrant transitions
• Infrastructures of emplacement and mobility
• Health/Medical tourism
• “Active aging” as moving in place

Deadline for all submissions – June 1, 2016

Authors notified of publication status – August 1, 2016

Issue published – November 2016

Full information for authors available on the website http://anthro-age.pitt.edu

Any questions regarding submissions and the CFP may be directed to: journal@anthropologyandgerontology.

Style/formats

A&A accepts a variety of writing styles and formats, from reflective and conversational commentaries and field reports, to more detailed and elaborate articles and reviews. The best way to get a feeling for this is to browse the archives, which are all available for free on the website.

All submissions are handled digitally. At least one author must register (free) and upload the file on the website. Emailed submissions will no longer be accepted. All submissions should be in Word or Rich Text format, following the American Anthropological Association style guide for citations and references (which is actually the current edition of the Chicago Manual of Style), but otherwise with as little special formatting as possible. We welcome figures, tables, and images but ask that they be submitted separately as supplementary files. Article submissions are desk reviewed before being passed on to a double-blind peer-review process. Other submissions are reviewed by the editorial staff and advisory board. Published work is open-access and protected by Creative Commons copyright.

We encourage submissions from students and early career scholars interested in making sure their work reaches the most established scholars in the anthropology of aging. One way that we try to make our journal accessible to all authors is to avoid expensive publication costs. If an article or commentary is accepted, however, we ask that lead authors become members of AAGE to help defray the cost. We also hope that membership will provide further opportunities to build on successful publication though activities like conferences, social events, blogging, and listserv discussions.